John Jacob Astor was the wealthiest American by the time he passed in 1848, earning his fortune of $20 million (about $800 million in today’s dollars) first in the fur trade and then in New York City real estate. Toward the end of his life, he began thinking about his legacy and giving back to […]
Accounting for 40 percent of energy consumption in the United States, residential and commercial buildings are a focal point of energy policy, research, and data. Since 1950, the United States has been making strides toward creating a more efficient energy system. Most of this progress, however, has overlooked the ability to retrofit and renovate the […]
In 2016, we revisited Washington Square Park and the radical fight to go completely “car-free”. At the time, it was a matter of preventing power broker Robert Moses from devastating our neighborhood by building a highway through it. But this communal victory was also an act of environmental justice for Greenwich Village. The fight for […]
On August 2, 1962 a protest took place that reverberated throughout New York City, and ignited the preservation movement throughout the city and country. The Action Group for Better Architecture (AGBANY) was formed in an effort to save McKim, Mead & White’s Pennsylvania Station from demolition. The organization’s birth is often pegged to this protest, […]
Last Thursday, Village Preservation was joined by Borough President Gale Brewer, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, the Historic Districts Council, Save Chelsea, Save Gansevoort, a representative of State Senator Brad Hoylman, and Third Council District Democratic Nominee Erik Bottcher for a demonstration and press conference condemning the city and a developer tearing down most of nine city, […]
Please join Village Preservation, the Historic Districts Council, and Save Chelsea this Thursday at 1 pm for a rally and press conference at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue to protest the city-approved near-complete demolition of nine landmarked 1840s houses at 44-54 Ninth Avenue/351 West 14th Street in the Gansevoort Market Historic District, and to demand […]
City agencies have continued to refuse to provide information about the basis for deciding that nine landmarked 1840s houses at 44-54 Ninth Avenue/351-55 West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District are “unsafe” and in imminent danger of collapse unless demolished (all but the party walls), even though there are no signs of stress, cracking, listing, or other […]
Village Preservation is always working hard to document, celebrate, and protect the historic character of our neighborhoods, including the great buildings that make Greenwich Village, NoHo and East Village such wonderful places to live, work and shop. Of course, we’re not always able to save every historic building from demolition, and some disappeared long before […]
Today is a rare day on Off the Grid as we are able to combine two of our ongoing series: Many Layers of History and Beyond the Village and Back. Unlike some of our other ‘Many Layers of History’ dates, August 31st or 8/31 does not correspond with any Village intersection. But it does correspond with […]
There are many tactics that developers may use to get rid of tenants, or to make conditions easier for them to push them out, in order to assist with demolition and new development plans. Apparently there are even classes you can take to learn how to do it. You may have read the fascinating […]
This has to be the most frequently asked question that we get regarding landmarked properties. This question can be in reference to any number of changes including demolition, a proposed new building, or an alteration. We wrote a blog a few weeks ago about our Landmarks Application webpage as a resource for information on upcoming, […]
